The Shadows by Alex North

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Content warning for child death and child abuse.

This is another brilliant dark and disturbing thriller from Whisper Man author, Alex North. After learning his mother has been placed in hospice, Paul Adams is forced to return to the town he left twenty-five years ago. His mother seems deeply disturbed and is convinced that something is in her house. What Alex finds convinces him that she knew more about the horrific murder of a child decades ago, a murder Alex has tried to forget. When a copycat killer strikes in a nearby town, Alex is forced to face his past in order to prevent the needless murders of more children. 

I made the mistake of taking this book with me while on vacation with my boys. We rented a cabin on a lake, surrounded by a beautiful forest. Nothing like reading a book where children are murdered in a forest commonly known as The Shadows, while in a literal forest.  In The Shadows, a group of teenage boys become obsessed with the idea of lucid dreaming. They are convinced that they can enter each other’s dreams and that a being known as Red Hands can help them get revenge against their enemies. This lucid dreaming creates this almost supernatural feeling to the book where it’s easy to question every fact about the suspects and the killings. There are discussions on the dark web questioning whether the original killer, Charlie Crabtree is still alive, or he is a dark spirit lurking around The Shadows waiting to be called upon. North is very skilled at keeping the tension between those two theories and you are always left questioning what is really going on. The lore surrounding The Shadows adds to the constant menacing feel of the book. They’re always described as dark and dangerous and Paul has a visceral reaction every time he looks out at them. Very spooky.

The characters are really well done and I loved how complex they were. Paul leaves town for college and never looks back. He even goes so far as to not see his mother for twenty-five years, that is how traumatizing his friend’s murder is. He never makes it as a writer and is living an ok life, but nothing he was really hoping for. His guilt over not taking better care of his mother is pretty intense but it leaves you wondering if he had come home earlier, could he handle taking care of his mother?  Would he have the emotional and mental strength to do so? 

I really like the character of Detective Amanda Beck. She is living in the shadow of her recently deceased father, a lifelong police officer. Struggling to find peace with the horrors she faces everyday, she is convinced that she is nothing more than a disappointment. But she is incredibly intuitive and driven. She knows how to best use her connections and is really good at reading people. North is really good at giving us characters who feel incredibly real and relatable. 

If you liked Whisper Man, I highly recommend picking this one up. It has the same tense, dark feel and the way that lucid dreaming was woven in was really interesting. 

This was my July Book of the Month pick and once again, BOTM did not disappoint. 

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